On August 13, 2011, Kenny Chesney brought his Goin’ Coastal Tour to New Jersey. This show was special for a great number of reasons. First off, Kenny is one of the few artists of ANY genre of music that can fill Stadiums up across the country and this was no exception. That steamy Saturday in East Rutherford, New Jersey a record breaking crowd was on hand to see the country crooner and his large list of guests. This particular show sold just over 55,000 tickets. Not since country legends Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard came around in 1983 had a country concert in New Jersey sold over 50,000 tickets. This show passed that show’s number in attendance. Sure Kenny is one of the best in the business today, but having the Grammy Award Winning and multi-talented Zac Brown Band on the bill with him sure helped with sales quite a bit. Throw in Billy Currington and Uncle Kracker as openers and this made the Goin’ Coastal Tour the must see tour of the summer.

Uncle Kracker and Billy Currington opened up their shorter sets with lots of familiar music. Uncle Kracker did his biggest hits such as “Follow Me” and “Smile” and stole some material from his old touring buddy, Kid Rock, as well as Kenny Rogers.

Billy Currington proved to be a crowd favorite with lots of summer drinking music such as “People Are Crazy” and “Pretty Good At Drinking Beer”. Billy used the stage and the catwalk in a slow walk, but the crowd really responded to his easy-going music. He closed out his set with “Good Directions”, a huge hit that was co-penned by Luke Bryan – and the crowd sang along with every word. By the time Billy was finishing up his set, I looked up from the floor to the 3 tiers of sections in the New Meadowlands Stadium and the place was absolutely packed.

I overheard many people who were tailgating in the parking lot state they were more excited to see the Zac Brown Band than the opener and for good reason. This band has released 8 singles to country radio and all of them have hit number 1 on the mediabase and billboard country charts. Zac Brown, naturally, is the lead singer and captain of the band. However, he makes sure that the crowd knows this is not a front man act – that they are whole band. And the entire band had their own time to shine on this day. Zac belted out his amazing vocals and intense guitar playing skills on hits like “Toes”, “As She’s Walking Away” and “Highway 20 Ride”. Jimmy DeMartini, the fiddle player/violinst, absolutely memorized the crowd with his ridiculous talent. He had tons of solos such as “Quite Your Mind” and “Free” and even used his fingers on the fiddle on “Where the Boat Leaves From”. People were shaking their heads with their jaws dropped when the spotlight was on Jimmy.

Even members like Clay Cook and Coy Bowles got their “rock star” moments on the song “Who Knows” which is essentially a ten minute jam out song with two minutes of vocals. The drummer, Chris Fryar, changed his clothes halfway through the band’s set from a New York Jets jersey to a New York Giants jersey – which made fans of both teams smile in admiration. Finally, John Driskell got to add some vocals on “It’s not Okay” and had the crowd dancing and laughing at the lyrics.

The band had a large group of the United States military come to the front of the stage before the song “Free” and they stayed throughout the final songs which happened to be a mash-up of “America, The Beautiful” and the band’s biggest single to date, “Chicken Fried”.

The Zac Brown Band oozes with talent, passion, emotional and unbelievable music ability. This band will be around for a very, very long time – and will be headlining their own Stadium Tour sometime soon, mark my word.

After a brief delay, the rain started to fall and the crowds retreated for cover and beer refills. But, when the lights went dark, the crowds ran to their seats – not even caring it was still raining. And the stage curtains raised, but Kenny Chesney appeared on a raised swing in the back of the Stadium, floating above the 55,000 cheering fans. He sang the entire first song, a recent number 1 single, “Live A Little” while flying above the crowd.

Once he landed, he was off and running, literally. The man used every inch of the massive catalk and stage. The lights went crazy in every direction and the huge interactive screens portrayed Kenny in different sides and angles throughout the concert. Kenny smashed through his hits and recents songs off his newest album, “Hemmingway’s Whiskey”.

Kenny Chesney is the penultimiate performer and he really showed it this night. From his acoustic takes on “You and Tequila” to his giant hits like “I Go Back” and “Keg in the Closet”, Kenny had the crowd in the palm of his hand. He cranked out hit after hit after hit, each song performed with just as much energy as the one before.

Kenny brought out all of his opening acts for certain select songs and covers. He of course performed “When the Sun Goes Down” with Uncle Kracker, which is one of the best summer concert songs anyone has ever written. He kept Kracker on stage for their take on The Allman Brothers song, “Midnight Rider” and even did their best hip-hop/country mash-up to Kid Rock’s “Cowboy”.

Kenny then surprised the crowd and absolutely shocked me, when he changed genres up completely and sang “Blister in the Sun”, a Violent Femmes Cover. For this, he even brought the original songwriter of the song, Mark Tamburino, out for the song.

Once the Encore came, Kenny ripped right into “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy” and brought out Billy Currington for some help. Unbelievably, the best part of the night was yet to come:

At this point of the show, Kenny brought out the Zac Brown Band as they teamed up with Chesney and his band during eight unbelievable songs. Zac and Kenny took to the front and sang two of the famous country band, Alabama’s biggest hits: “Dixieland Delight” and “If You’re Gonna Play in Texas”. They teamed up for each other’s “summery” singles “Knee Deep” and “Everybody Wants to Go To Heaven”.

Then for good measure they brought up the New York Yankees’ slugger Nick Swish to help them sing “The Joker” by the Steve Miller Band. Any fan of baseball knows how much a swagger and overall enthusiasm Nick Swisher has and he was full of smiles and fist pumped on stage.

Zac and Kenny and their bands finished things out with a Bob Marley, Sublime and Tom Petty Cover. They even brought ZBB-protege Sonia Leigh, the New York Jets’ coach Rex Ryan, Kenny’s mother, and others on stage to help sing and finish the party out.

Nick Swisher:

Rex Ryan:

Overall, the show was long (almost six and a half hours of music), but never slowed down. Zac and Kenny electrified the crowd and all 55K went home happy – tired and very happy. If there was any indication that country music was alive and well in the Garden State, you just had to look at the parking lot that became the New Jersey turnpike. But despite the traffic and rain that night, you could tell that everyone walked away satisfied. There are only a few more dates left on this tour and I am attending one again at the end of August – I would suggest any and all to check it out.

Kenny Chesney Setlist:

Live a Little

Reality

Summertime

Beer In Mexico

The Woman With You

Big Star

I Go Back

No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem

Anything But Mine

There Goes My Life

You and Tequila

Living In Fast Forward

Young

Happy Birthday to Ken (Chesney’s road manager)

Somewhere With You

Don’t Happen Twice

Never Wanted Nothing More

Out Last Night

When the Sun Goes Down with Uncle Kracker

Midnight Rider – The Allman Brothers Band Cover

Cowboy – Kid Rock Cover with Uncle Kracer

Blister in the Sun – Violent Femmes Cover with the songwriter Mark Tamburino

How Forever Feels

The Boys of Fall

Encore:

She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy with Billy Currington

Dixieland Delight – Alabama Cover with Zac Brown Band

If You’re Gonna Play in Texas – Alabama Cover with Zac Brown Band

Knee Deep – with the Zac Brown Band

Everybody Wants to Go To Heaven – with Zac Brown Band

The Joker – Steve Miller Band cover with … moreZac Brown Band and appearance on-stage by Nick Swisher of New York Yankees